Frittata, Frittata, Frittata, Je T’aime

For the frittata-uninitiated, these are basically quiches without crusts — firm, cakelike omelets cooked slowly over low heat. My first efforts at these resulted in scrambled eggs, but a good frittata actually can be super simple and surprisingly classy for something so packed full of good things. Tips to simplify:

• The right hardware: A big, cured skillet is best for this recipe since the frittata turns out particularly attractive if you sit it under the broiler for a minute or two, and I don’t trust teflon or the “wrap the plastic handle in foil” method not to do nasty things in the oven.
• Butter is better: If your skillet isn’t (or is) well cured, barely-browning some butter in the bottom of the pan right before you pour in the egg mix will help it stay loose and come out a little easier.
• Implements that help: A big, flexible pancake spatula is also a plus here, as is one of those knives that looks like a soft-cheese knife but has very good, small serrations on the bottom for astoundingly excellent julienne-slicing.
• Shortcut: For the faint of heart or accident-prone [me], the baking method also works: butter a deep pie dish, do whatever stovetop prep is necessary to get the veggies where you want them, and pop the whole thing, uncovered, into a 350° oven for, say, 30min.

Spinach, Red Pepper, Onion, and Feta Frittata:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, halved vertically and thinly sliced
• 2 red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise and sliced very thinly
• 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed out (I up it to 15oz)
• 5 large eggs
• 1/4 to 1/2 c crumbled feta
• optional: 1 Tbsp pre-grated parmesan
• optional: 1/4 c to 1/2 c chopped fresh parsley, or 1-2 Tbsp dried (I omit this)
• 1 tsp italian seasoning (I used 1 heaping tsp)
• Pepper to taste or a pinch of crushed chili pepper (the egg can handle it)
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preparation:

1. Pop the spinach in a bowl in the microwave on half-power to start it thawing. Meanwhile, chop everything.

Rainy-Day Cajun Style Soup

It’s been raining a lot, so my vegan-for-a-few-weeks housemate Angel was in the mood for something like pea soup, but Cajun-ish. This rich gumbo-style soup is what she put together:

Angel’s Rainy-Day Cajun Style Vegan Bean & Vegetable Soup:

makes: a LOT

• 1 bag (1lb) dried black-eyed peas
• 4 cans vegetable broth +2 cans water
• 2 cubes vegan bouillon
• 2-3 bay leaves
• 1 can corn (or 2 c normal corn)
• 1 can stewed tomatoes (or 2 c chopped tomatoes)
• 8 carrots, chopped
• 6-8 celery ribs, chopped
• 1 white onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 to 1 whole bunch fresh parsley, removed from the stems and minced
• “lots” of cayenne and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp hickory “liquid smoke” flavoring, to taste (find this near the barbecue sauce)
• 1 “Field Roast” vegan Italian sausage (or 4-5 Yves Italian “sausages”), chopped

Soak beans overnight (or place them and water-per-package-directions in a pot, bring to a boil, cover, and set aside for 40-60 min). Rinse out cooled beans, replace in pot with vegetable broth + water, bay leaf, boillon, carrots, celery, corn, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then simmer 20-30 minutes, until beans are noticeably soft but not mush. Meanwhile, saute onion in oil.
Remove bay leaves and mix into pot o’ beans: onion, parsley, peppers, liquid smoke, and “sausage.” Simmer another 15 minutes. Serve with steamed brown rice and / or fresh cornbread.

Curried Carrot & Quinoa Soup

I (a) like curry, and (b) feel a little under the weather, and this turned out to be a pretty excellent feel-better soup. Basically, it’s chicken noodle soup for the vegetarian.

The heat and spice help you cough more and clean things out, and it feels good in your tummy, but the cayenne pepper & garlic here also have some mild benefits in terms of improving bloodflow, assisting digestion, minimizing inflammation, and heling to boost the immune system. Hey, every little bit helps.

The quinoa is optional; a good source of protein, it’s also the noodle equivalent in this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups dry quinoa (half normal, half red quinoa is ideal) – optional
• 3 Tbsp peanut (or other vegetable) oil
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds (I used yellow mustard)
• 1/2-1 tsp curry powder (I used the Spice Hunter “hot curry blend;” Madras works as well, but if you use that or “whatever” curry powder, cut back a bit on the honey or increase the cayenne, as you like)
• 1 1/2 inch cube (about 1 Tbsp) fresh ginger root, peeled and grated (or you can get 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the non-sugar-coated candied stuff and mince it fine)
• 1 clove garlic (more if you’re really sick and/or like garlic), minced finely

Asparagus and Cabbage

This is one of my favorite things to eat. For some reason it’s really filling even though it’s not a lot of food. It’s really quick (about 10 minutes) and pretty refreshing. It’s a really good method for cooking asparagus spears as a side, but I like to add the cabbage, onion and tomato for a meal.

• 4-5 asparagus spears
• 1/2 – 1 cup chopped cabbage
• about 1/8 cup minced red onion
• about 1/4-1/2-8 cups tomato*
• salt
• pepper
• red pepper flakes or pickle masala or something spicy**
• 1/2 a lemon
• about 1 tbls olive oil

*just kidding about the 8 cups. It’s really however much tomato you want. I use 1/2 – 1 roma tomato, so probably 1/2 a cluster tomato or like 1/4 hydrophonic tomato or whatever those huge, tasteless ones are called.

**red pepper flakes work fine, but I bought a bag of pickle masala at an Indo-Paki store and I’ve been using it in place of chili powder and red pepper flakes because it’s delicious and spicy and different. There are no ingredients on the bag, so I dunno what it is. Lots of chilis and probably turmeric and so on.

1. Heat the oil at about a medium.
2. Break off the bottoms of the asparagus spears. Just pull at an angle and all the hard part will break off so you don’t have to guess where to cut. Chop up everything.
3. Once the oil is hot, put in the asparagus and roll it around to coat it in the oil. Add the onions then the cabbage***. Grind up some salt and pepper and add whatever spicy spice you’re using, unless it’s the red pepper flakes.
4.  Sauté everything for about 5 minutes, turning the asparagus occasionally. You don’t want to overcook anything, but you want your asparagus a little soft. Or anyway, that’s how I want it.
5. Once it’s done, put it on your plate. If you’re using them, sprinkle the red pepper flakes on top of everything. Squeeze the lemon over it all and add the tomato. Enjoy :) .

(Another variation is salt, pepper and sesame seeds.)

***I do it in this order because I want the asparagus touching the pan. I also want the onions touching the pan, but they can fall where they please once the spears are in the pan. The cabbage is fine if it doesn’t cook all the way through.